Alvin is on the bottom, but onboard ship Dana Yoerger (WHOI) and Erik Cordes (Temple) analyze data obtained from the overnight Sentry dive to make adjustments to today’s plan. New coordinates are mapped and then communicated via radio to the crew in Alvin on the seafloor.

The first Alvin dive is tomorrow morning which means the instruments that are held on the front of Alvin (an area called the basket) must all be arranged, secured and tested. Amanda and I worked together to put together the slurp machine to literally slurp up any material from the surface of the corals. Quite a bit of time was spent outside tonight waiting for Sentry to be deployed. There was a nice sunset to distract us while we waited and the film crew buzzed around on a zodiak. We are 6 miles from the BP Deepwater Horizon spill, the wind has dropped, and you can see the glowing lights of the Deepwater platform and relief well in the distance. It’s an eerie feeling looking over the side of the boat at these distant lights, thinking about the events that took place this past summer, including the lives that were lost and the environmental impacts that followed. I am glad to be here to study this environment, but the reason I am here and the weight that this carries is not forgotten.

First on the agenda for the day was to pick up the mooring with the sediment trap attached. The sediment trap was previously deployed and has been collecting samples of particles suspended in the water column. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see the whole production because I was required to go watch the safety video. However, the safety video was quite entertaining in itself. After that we had safety training, which consisted of me, and the few other people who have never been onboard ship before, putting on giant hypothermia-preventing safety suits. Otherwise known as gumby suits. Everyone else thought it was really funny. I got to spend a lot of time on deck today, which was nice but also unusual. I had never realized how many oil rigs there were in the Gulf of Mexico. No matter where you look you can always see a rig looming not so far in the distance, and usually there’s more than one in sight.

My work for the day consisted of cleaning filters that will be used on the Alvin dive tomorrow and learning how to download the CTD data. The filters are supposed to suck up any gunk that may be covering the corals, which will be useful to analyze when assessing the health of the coral community. CTD stands for conductivity, temperature, depth, and is a relatively basic instrument. Although some models are more updated and take additional readings, the one onboard was made in 1973. It accompanies Alvin and takes readings of the surrounding water conditions, which I then download to the network once Alvin surfaces.

The biggest event of the day was the launching of Sentry to make its first run of the trip mapping seafloor bathymetry. After some delay Sentry was released around 5:30… only to be brought back onboard within an hour. There were problems with a humidity detector which could potentially mean a leak. However, everything has now been resolved and Sentry is being redeployed.

The second biggest event of the day was my Orgo test. As one of the WHOI people said, school work doesn’t stop once you’re on the ship. At least it’s over and out of my mind for now and I can focus on the cruise.

The plan for tomorrow, before the Sentry mishap, was to pick up Sentry at 6:00, deploy an elevator at 7:00, and make the first Alvin dive at 8:00. Things may change due to the late deployment of Sentry, though. From my understanding, we are placing a time lapse camera on the elevator that will take pictures and monitor the seafloor where it lands for about three months until it’s picked up again. Chuck Fisher and Mike deGruy will be the first to dive in Alvin tomorrow. They will mostly be filming, Mike for TV and Chuck for science purposes and checking the functionality of apparatuses, so there won’t be many samples coming back. I’m excited to see Alvin dive!!

This morning we learned how to be safe at sea and how to survive if you have to abandon ship and dive into the hostile ocean. The latter included putting on a survival suit also known as a gumby suit, modelled below by Katie.

Today we left port around 16:00 and started our voyage out to the Gulf of Mexico. The day started with 7:00 breakfast followed by an Alvin briefing. I got sized for the rebreather I would have to wear incase of a fire in Alvin. Afterwards we were shown the gadgets with which Alvin is equipped: multiple streaming video cameras, an HD video camera, and still-frame cameras, along with the equipment needed to take cores and water samples. The cameras will be necessary for some of the projects happening onboard- seafloor mapping and photo mosaics. I ate lunch with one of the members of the film crew, and he explained that they are working on a documentary series with the aims of demystifying the contradictions and conflicting evidence of the Gulf oil spill. They have been interviewing scientists from all over who have studied the Gulf spill and are compiling their perspectives on what has happened and the effects they have studied. I recognized one member of the film crew, Mike deGruy, from Shark Week… He hosted a show on the evolution of sharks as top predators. I also talked with Amanda Demopoulos, who is with USGS looking at the impact of the oil on meiofauna (small invertebrates) that live in the sediments. I will probably be working with her and sediments we collect later on in the trip.

After more meetings and debriefings, I got to explore the ship a bit as we left port. It felt amazing to set sail and be on the water. Luckily, the seas have been calm so there hasn’t been much trouble with seasickness onboard. However, as I write this I can feel the seas starting to pick up as the ship rolls back and forth. Helen and I ventured out on deck at night to take a break and walk around. It was pitch-black but we somehow managed to make our way to the bow where we had a beautiful view of the stars. Unfortunately neither of us knew much about the constellations. However, with the help of her iPhone, Helen was able to show me the Big Dipper and we made guesses at some of the other bright stars. Tomorrow, our first stop is to pick up moorings and retrieve a sediment trap. Then we’re off again in transit to the site where we will deploy Sentry. It will make an overnight run and map the bathymetry of the seafloor, which will be used in part for prepping Alvin’s dive the following morning. Busy times ahead.

It is great to be back on the R/V Atlantis. Between research cruises, I forget how much I love going to sea. As I look over the ship’s rails and then back up towards the bridge, I remember how lucky I am to be able to do this. The last time I was onboard the Atlantis was August 2006. Over 4 years ago, but it doesn’t feel that long. As I look around the ship everything falls back into the place. Metal stairs going up and down leading to heavy doors, the tracks across the back of the ship that Alvin gets rolled out on, Alvin wearing boxing gloves, the wet lab where my high pressure high temperature experiments met a terrible demise in 2006, the cold room where we kept tubeworms alive, the freezer, the duplication system where all the media from Alvin is transferred and then last, but not least, the smells of the ship. As you move from mechanical rooms to science labs, past heads and to bunks, there are unique fragrances: specific mixtures of grease, bleach, and ocean. A familiar place, but many things have changed. It’s 2010 and we are about to explore the Gulf of Mexico with a great team of scientists, Alvin crew and ship crew. Katie Sheline (Haverford College ’13) will be posting here, but also check out daily updates from WHOI Dive and Discover here.